McEneny bids emotional farewell

Assemblyman presides over chamber for last time after serving 20 years in office

Jimmy Vielkin, Times Union

By Jimmy Vielkind

Updated 7:34 am, Tuesday, January 1, 2013

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/ Times Union

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/ Times Union

Jack McEneny, left does his final official duty as an Assemblyman by gaveling out the daily session in the Assembly Chamber of the State Capitol in Albany, N.Y. Dec 31, 2012. (Skip Dickstein/Times Union)

Jack McEneny, left does his final official duty as an Assemblyman...

Jack McEneny, right, is piped from out of the chamber by Peter Lounsbery, right after performing his final official duty as an Assemblyman by gaveling out the daily session in the Assembly Chamber of the State Capitol in Albany, N.Y. Dec 31, 2012. (Skip Dickstein/Times Union)

Jack McEneny, right, is piped from out of the chamber by Peter...

Jack McEneny performs his final official duty as an Assemblyman by gaveling out the daily session in the Assembly Chamber of the State Capitol in Albany, N.Y. Dec 31, 2012. (Skip Dickstein/Times Union)

Jack McEneny performs his final official duty as an Assemblyman by...

Jack McEneny's ceremonial gavel sits idle he performed his final official duty as an Assemblyman by gaveling out the daily session in the Assembly Chamber of the State Capitol in Albany, N.Y. Dec 31, 2012. (Skip Dickstein/Times Union)

Jack McEneny's ceremonial gavel sits idle he performed his final...

Jack McEneny, right, is piped from out of the chamber by Peter Lounsbery, right after performing his final official duty as an Assemblyman by gaveling out the daily session in the Assembly Chamber of the State Capitol in Albany, N.Y. Dec 31, 2012. (Skip Dickstein/Times Union)

Jack McEneny, right, is piped from out of the chamber by Peter...

Jack McEneny, right, is piped from out of the chamber by Peter Lounsbery, right after performing his final official duty as an Assemblyman by gaveling out the daily session in the Assembly Chamber of the State Capitol in Albany, N.Y. Dec 31, 2012. (Skip Dickstein/Times Union)

Jack McEneny, right, is piped from out of the chamber by Peter...

Irish tenor Chris Gil, right sings "Parting Glass" after Jack McEneny does his final official duty as an Assemblyman by gaveling out the daily in the Assembly Chamber of the State Capitol in Albany, N.Y. Dec 31, 2012. (Skip Dickstein/Times Union)

ALBANY — Monday's noon session was to proceed on "Irish time," the piper explained, slouching in a chair at the back of the Assembly chamber as a few dozen friends, relatives and employees filed in.

They caught up about old times. Several toddlers ran through the aisles. A tour group, only coincidentally aware the chamber was about to gavel out for the year, learned about its drop ceiling while huddling along the western wall. Suddenly, the piper, a former Albany Police Department lieutenant named Peter Lounsbery, straightened.

It was 11:55, and Assemblyman Jack McEneny had appeared. He was tieless, sporting a maroon sweater beneath his standard herringbone blazer, and followed closely by his wife, Jan.

After 20 years in office, this would be his last time presiding over the chamber. A quirk of parliamentary procedure requires the Assembly to hold forth at least every three days, lest it lapse into dormancy and subject its lawmaking abilities to the whim of a governor and his agenda.

If you're the assemblyman from Albany, the bulk of these quiet mini-sessions falls to you. They are usually pro forma and perfunctory, witnessed only by a stenographer and marked by a quick prayer, a rapid recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance and a colloquy with a majority leader who is not actually present.

McEneny has done roughly 2,700 of them, he estimates, and has already instructed his successor, Pat Fahy, in the ritual.

But even if he was early, Jack McEneny was certainly not in a rush.

He took a lap around the chamber, greeting well-wishers with hugs or handshakes and handing them the custom designed pin that has adorned his lapel for years: an outline of the Capitol underscored by the word McEneny.

"So you know I'm serious this is the end," he whispered.

At 12:06, he took the rostrum, surveying the room before him. A room where he once debated the death penalty for 12 straight hours. Where Al Smith made his bones. None of his colleagues were present for Monday's session, their seats now filled by a great-nephew, a high school sweetheart, a son and two daughters.

This was the most people who had ever been present, he explained. He was proud to note that his youngest daughter, 28-year-old Maeve, would be the fifth generation of the family to work in the building, where she is an official tour guide. McEneny's great-grandfather worked on the building for close to 30 years after immigrating to Albany from Ireland in the mid-19th century.

His granddaughter, Madeline, lurked playfully behind him. At 12:11, he mumbled through his business, and a minute later he was finished.

Lounsbery's recessional keen would not be the only element of Hibernian flair. McEneny used a special gavel for the day's festivities, carved by a fellow aide to the late Dick Conners to evoke Gov. Thomas Dongan.

There was also Chris Gil, a lilting tenor, who sang "The Parting Glass" as McEneny stepped from the podium. Lounsbery piped and McEneny shuffled, but Gil's chorus festered.